The Liverpool star had spoken about his current contract talks (or lack thereof) and made a number of points in his own defence.

Carragher has duly proceeded to dissect that defence and appears disgusted with the 'disgrace' of a PR stunt that was 'beyond a joke.'

And one of the former Liverpool man's biggest points to the 20-year-old was a heartfelt warning about where the youngster's career could go if he leaves Anfield.

Indeed, in discussing Sterling, Carragher couldn't help but bring up the example of a certain Shaun Wright-Phillips, who joined Chelsea from Manchester City but failed to make his mark with the Blues.

The Sky Sports pundit said: "Raheem has got great potential but he is not the first one to do this. Remember Shaun Wright-Phillips 10 years ago? He left Manchester City for Chelsea after bursting into the England team.

"He hardly figured at Stamford Bridge and returned to City two years later. Now he can’t get a game for QPR."

Intriguingly, Sterling has recently been linked with a move to Chelsea this summer.

Opinion on the youngster at Liverpool, meanwhile, remains firmly split. An understandable stance is that the forward is fully within his rights to demand whatever he wants. In the modern market, this is true.

The bigger question is should he? With the loyalty Liverpool have shown him, is £50,000 a week more really worth essentially betraying a loving club and fanbase?

Then, of course, the issue of whether it's really about trophies or money comes into it. Either way, Carragher has made his stance very clear. And he believes Sterling could well end up like Chelsea flop Wright-Phillips should he continue to let his representatives dictate his life at such a young age.

Tim Poole

Tim Poole is a sports journalist for HITC with a love of football, tennis and snooker in particular.His career to date has seen him speak to former Manchester United boss David Moyes, interview snooker world champion Mark Selby and be snubbed by Premier League managers and players in more than one language!He is a massive Roger Federer fan and lives by the motto that 'sport is life.' When he's not writing about it, he's playing it, be it football, tennis, basketball, badminton, table tennis, darts, snooker, golf or even water polo. He is better at some than others...